Stackable free sledding processing carrier



Se t. 24, 1957 L- A. BEADLE STACKABLE'FREE- sumnmc PROCESSING CARRIERFiIed March 4, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY Sept. 24, 1957 L. A.BEADLE STACKABLE FREE SLEDDING PROCESSING CARRIER Filed March 4, 1955 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN'II'OR ATTORNEY STACKABLE' FREE SLEDDING PROCESSING.I

CARRIER Leonard A. Beadle, Fairfield, Cnn., assignor to Rolock,

Incorporated, Fairlield; Conn., a corporation of Conneclicut ApplicationMarch 4,,1955, Serial No. 492,117"

Claims (Cl; 263-47) This invention relates to containers and carriers ofjoined wire, open constructionfor holding and transporting. work pieceswhile accompanying them into a processing environment such-as a zone ofveryhigh heat for galvanizing, annealing, soldering, brazing, etc. orsuch as immersion in a quenching bath, or a bath of salts, acidsolutions, or electrolytes, or such as a carburizing atmosphere. Suchprocesses often are very damaging to the structure of thecarrier'because of heat caused distortion,

surface corrosion, and-other life shortening effects of the medium.

Work handlingttraysxformerly proposedfor these demanding. typesof'service have beenfabricatedusually by welding. together in meeting orcrossing relation suitable forms of more or. less heavy rounder: flatstrips of wire. They have-not. been well suited to sliding easily alongrough support surfaces while heavily loaded. The welds employed. as wellas the'wire itself have'been subject to impairment by extremetheat,strong'acids, effects of carburization, etc.

One object of the present improvements is to achieve greater-strengthand durability without, or with fewer, Welds inzthe floor:region of thetray.

A related object is to increase the smoothness of the basesurface. ofthe trayv by doing away with the sharp projections and general roughnessof arc welded joints at nited States Patent 9 the base edges and:basecorners of the tray. This reduces tendency of the tray to snag on its'support surfaces and the consequent resistanceto' pushing or pullingover such support surface while heavily loaded with. Work pieces.Examples of the rough support surfaces referred to are floors of heatingovens that are composed of fire brick or other refractory stone-likematerial.

A particular object is to provide a tray which when heavily loaded isproof against buckling or fracture in the base portion of'its structurewhen shoved along the floor bed of a heat-treating oven While heavilyloaded.

Another object, is without sacrifice of strength, to reduce a gridworktray to a minimum offweight by the use of a less number of wires androds than heretofore considered essential.

A still further object is to provide the improved tray with means forstacking a like tray upon it inamanner to maintain the top tray inalignment with the bottom tray'while both trays are being moved about ortransported from one treating zone to another without removing the workfrom the. trays.

The-foregoing and other objects and advantages of the improvements willbe evident in greater detail from the following description of asuccessful embodiment of the invention having reference to theaccompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a skeleton tray embodying the presentimprovements accompanied by a wire mesh liner of conventionalconstruction removed from its nested relation to the tray.

Fig. 2 shows two trays like that of Fig. l with their respective linersin place stackedstably one upon the other by means shown in Fig. 6forming a part of the present improvements. Y

Figs. 3, 4 and'5 are respectively a plan view, a side-view and an-endview of the tray in Fig. 1 With'liner omitted, some'of the near wires-ineach of saidviews being broken away on correspondingly numbered sectionplanes appearing in another of the same views to reveal far wires ofcorresponding alignment.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view drawn onan' enlarged scale taken in sectionon the plane 6--6 in Fig. 2 looking in'the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 7 shows a modification of the construction in Fig. 5 wherein thrustplates are omitted at the ends of the tray and one of the bent-handlerods of Fig. 6 is extended to take their place, the near wires beingbroken away to show one of the tray stacking cross bars in place.

In a tray of the typehere concerned component. parts of' thefabricationwhich are subjected to the greatestdi stortive forces in thecustomary'ways of handling the tray are crossing wires that-form thefloor of the tray. Formerly'suclrfioor'wires have been of equal sizeand'round' and interwoven so that relatively short arches of'the wiresat their crossing points constitute the base surfaceof'the tray. Wherefiat wire has constituted the base surface of the tray thefrictional'resistance to sliding of the tray has been greatly increasedl Theseimprovements avoid the heavy resistance to sliding of" broad faced fiatwire and utilize the friction'reducing eifect of continuous linearcontact that is impossible to interwoven round Wires by using straightuncrimped round'rods serving as sledding runners by constituting thesole base surface of the tray on'which the tray rests and glides. Suchfloor rods' of the tray according'to these improvements arebent up rightat their end portions to form risers 14 at the ends of the tray thusserving 'asskeleton end walls for the tray. Crosswise of'andsolely abovethe stratum of runner rods 12 there is a'layer or stratum ofspaced aparttie wires 16 which may be of appreciably smaller size than 1110111111161rods 12; each of the runner rods and crossing tie wires being preferablyspot-welded to each other whereby the: roughness and irregularity of arcwelding projections is eliminated at'the base surface of'the tray.

Having thus formed a skeleton floor and skeleton end walls of' thetray'by uninterruptedcontinuousruns of the large'bent-up and ruggedrunnerrods 12', a top rim 18 for the'basket'is provided by'applying acircuitous stretch of rod, preferably'of' the same size and kind ofheavy wire that comprises the runner rods 12. Rim 18 is four-sided beingbent into a coplanar quadrilateral frame and then are Welded to the topends of the risers 14 br, runner rods=12; The vertical space between rim18 and the two outermost runner rods 12 is spanned by bracing rods intruss formation; One or more of the bracing rods 20 may be' vertical andstraight'with turned-over ends strongly welded to a rim rod'and runnerrod, while others may be angularly bent, diagonally extending, bracingrods such as'22. A more elaborate, angularly bent, bracing rod'24presents an upstanding loop 26 projecting sufliciently abovethe tray rim18 to be hookedlinto and serve as a lifting handle. Handle rod 24 iswelded to the rim rod and to the risers 14 of the runner rods.

Four metalthrust pads 32 may be added tothe tray structure heretoforedescribed by welding horizontally elongated plates to the outside of therisers at the ends of the basket near the corners.

In use of the tray, impelling dogs may be caused to thrust againstplates 32' for pushing the basket in the direction that the runner rods12 extend as a means of sliding the tray smoothly over an oven bed whileheavily loaded with work pieces that are to be conveyed and processedwhile remaining in the basket. Both ends of the tray may be alike andboth sides of the tray may be alike.

If the work pieces are smaller than the apertures between theaforedescribed wires and rods there will be nested within the skeletonframework ofthe basket of Figs. 3, 4 and 5 a dished liner of relativelyfine-mesh woven wire which may be cut out of wire fabric in the fiat andfolded up into the, shape of the tray liner shown in Fig. 1.

The superior strength, greater external smoothness and generallystreamlined character of a tray constructed as hereinbefore describedenables two such trays ,to be stacked in double-deck fashion as shown inFig. 2 with the aid of dips 34 that are formed in the rim rod 13 nearits sturdily supported points where angular bracing rods 22 are weldedto it. For this purpose I have devised two cross bar members 36 shownseated loosely in the dips 34 at each of their twisted and bent-overends so that the top edge of the bar is a little higher than the top ofrim rod 18. Cross bars 36 are provided with welded-on, locating lugs 40whose lengths laterally of the basket loosely fill the spaces between anoutermost runner rod 12 and its adjacent runner rod 12 at each side ofthe basket. It will be understood that the four ends of the two barsseat in the four clips 34 respectively as shown in Fig. 6.

The distance of separation of bars 36 lengthwise of the basket fits thespacing of an even number of the floor wires 16 lengthwise of the basketwhich causes the four lugs 40 of the two cross bars 36 to liepractically in locating abutment with two of the floor wires 16. Thisprevents lengthwise tray displacement. Thus with the aid of the crossbars 36 it will be seen that one of my improved baskets, when stackedupon another, is dependably restrained against sidewise displacement andalso against lengthwise displacement in relation to the underlyingbasket which supports it.

In Fig. 7, the thrust plates 32 are omitted and the handle rod 24 isextended horizontally in opposite directions to take their place andreceive the tray impelling thrust.

As a non-limiting guide to sizes of trays and component structure thatmay benefit greatly by the departures from conventional constructionherein disclosed, the overall dimensions of the tray may roughly be21"x33" with a depth of 5". In this size a suitable size of the heavywire used for runner rods, handle rods and rim rods is /2" diameter,while the bracing rods may be of /8" diameter and tie rods of A diameterfor a proportional spacing of the parts shown in the drawings. The metalof allparts of the tray may to advantage be Inconel, believed to.be atrade-mark of the International Nickel Company, which possessestoughness and great resistance to continual heating and quenching aswell as corrosion.

The side bracing members 22 may each be so modified in shape as to havetheir looped tops project above the rim wire 18 to serve as handles asdo the handle loops 26 shown herein. There may be employed more dips 34in the rim wire 18 and more of the cross bars or slats 36 than areherein shown. Many other changes and variations may be made within theprinciples of the invention and the appended claims are directed to suchprinciples rather than to all the precise details of the hereinillustrated embodiments of the invention.

I claim:

1. A free sledding work conveying tray adapted to steer itself smoothlythrough a rough walled passageway in a heat treating oven withoutsnagging against the walls of the passageway when shoved aheadtherethrough, comprising a horizontal stratum of more than two rigidrunner rods spaced apart laterally of the tray affording the sole andbottommost surfaces on which the tray bottom rests, the end portions ofsaid rods being bent upward to form risers at leading and trailing endsof the tray and the two farthest apart of said rods forming sideboundaries of the bottom of the tray, 21 stratum of rigid tie wireispaced apart lengthwise of the tray confined to level above said stratumof runner rods and crossing and se-'' cured to the latter, said tiewires terminating and bein confided in horizontal directions within saidside boundaries of the tray, and superstructure including a foursidedrim having two of its sides traversing and fixed to the top ends of saidrisers and having the other two of its sides spaced substantiallyvertically above said two farthest apart runner rods respectively andextending substantially parallel therewith, whereby all of saidsuperstructure is contained within said side boundaries of the traybottom thereby to prevent snagging of said superstructure againstupright guide walls of a rough oven passageway when the tray is shovedtherethrough.

2. A free sledding tray as defined in claim 1, together with bracingmembers fixed to the said two farthest apart of the said runner rodsspanning and confined to the vertical space between the same and thesaid rim structure within the said side boundaries of the tray.

3. A stackable free sledding tray constructed as described in claim 1,in which the said rim structure comprises a planar run of heavy roundwire bent into shallow dips at spot locations aligned with each othertransversely of the tray, together with slat members having downwardhooked ends spaced apart to rest simultaneously in said dips of therim-forming wire, thereby to span the width of the tray and serve assupport for a superimposedlike tray.

4. A free sledding tray as defined in claim 1, together with an upwardlyarched handle member projecting above the said rim structure and havinganchorage legs diagonally crossing the said risers of the said runnerrods and fixed thereto.

- 5. A free sledding tray as defined in claim 4, together with thrustplates traversing and fixed to the outward faces of the said risers ofthe said runner rods extending between the said handle member and thesaid side boundaries of the tray.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,050,823 Foreman Jan. 21, 1913 1,468,375 Canby Sept. 18, 1923 1,538,260Street et al May 19, 1925 2,010,440 Ryan Aug. 6, 1935 2,047,905Johannsen July 14, 1936 2,198,106 Chandonia Apr. 23, 1940 2,395,542Fordon Feb. 26, 1946 2,401,063 Fordon May 28, 1946 2,565,782 Rhodes Aug.28, 1951 2,581,613 Ellrich Ian. 8, 1952 2,646,186 Russell July 21, 1953FOREIGN PATENTS 327.780 Great Britain Apr. 17, 1930

